efficiency

When it comes to procrastination, I’m the queen and it’s never more apparent than when tax time rolls around and I have to recreate the whole year.  As reluctant as I am to go through this, I must.  This year, before sitting down to tackle taxes I took a little inventory of what I had been spending my time on and why I didn’t get things like this done in a more timely manner (besides that fact that I loathe it).  It was an interesting exercise and I came up with some methods to help me be more productive in 2010, that are actually working.  Here are tips that I can pass on to you:

First: Contrary to popular belief, multi-tasking is NOT more efficient than just sitting down and focusing on one task at a time. Don’t fool yourself.

Name your priorities.
We think that we know what is important and what we need to get done, however this doesn’t stop distractions that keep us from those priorities. By writing them down clearly it helps us to remember and focus.  Write down your top five priorities in your life, in order.  Priorities are different than goals.  They are less specific and don’t include specific tasks.  Things like:

1.  Production work accounts
2.  Web site sales
3.  Writing my novel
4.  Healthy living
5.  Shows

Post them prominently.
Tape up a copy of these priorities in the places that you spend most of your time.  Posting them prominently will help them to seep into your daily thinking.

Observer for a day.
With your priorities on your mind, watch yourself throughout your day.  What distracts you from them? When you do something, ask yourself:  Does this work towards or against my priorities?  As you implement the tips below, continue to ask yourself throughout the day, “Does this action work towards my priorities, or against them” and then make your decision as to if you want to continue.

Manage your distractions.
Once you recognize what your biggest distractors are (you probably already knew), manage them.  Is the telephone always interrupting you?  Do you get sucked into social networking?  Does one blog post lead to another?  Are you getting up to do a load of laundry, which leads to emptying the trash,which leads to doing the dishes?  etc.  Resist the temptation and schedule a time when you will do those things.  Try thinking in rewards.  ”If I work straight for two hours on one of my priorities, I will spend 15 minutes on facebook.”  Stick to the time you give yourself for your reward.

Group Tasks.
Check emails only a few times a day, not every time you get a  pop-up notification.  Same with phone calls.

Eliminate small tasks quickly.
If you have emails or phone calls that can be done quickly, do them!  It takes more energy to have them hanging over your head than it does to just do them.

Make lists and schedule tasks.
I’m not talking about lists of what you need to do, I’m talking about lists of things that keep running through your head.  Again, tasks hanging over your head take up brain room and weigh you down.  If you’re working and can’t get the fact that you need to get Susie new tap shoes out of your head, put it on your list.  Schedule time into your day for these kinds of things…maybe after your work day or on a lunch break?

Everything has a home.
I learned this one from my sister, whose house is always tidy, and I’m still working on it myself.  You will get more done if your workspace is organized. Scissors go into the pencil cup, the phone goes on the cradle, papers go into their files, even if just to keep them for later action.  Create standing files nearby for “data entry” for receipts that need to be entered, “filing” for items that need to be filed, “to do” for items needing attention, etc.  This way, everything is together when it’s time to work on those tasks (and clutter is minimized before that time).

So, those are some things that I recognized and have implemented.  It’s the easiest time management ‘system’ I’ve used to date.  There is something about these simple steps and looking honestly at the way we do things that will make you want to change your habits.  Good Luck!

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